


Ballum Prompt List #4

by messedup



Series: Prompt Lists [4]
Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Baking, Corona Implications, Covid19 Implications, Family Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Isolation, M/M, POSSIBLE OTHER WARNINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH CHAPTER!, lockdown - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25280281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/messedup/pseuds/messedup
Summary: Prompt fills from my fourth prompt list which focuses on what happens during the lockdown.*Chapter 5: "I don't know if playing monopoly is such a good idea right now seeing as it will most certainly end in a blood bath and we have no escape."
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Series: Prompt Lists [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563700
Comments: 30
Kudos: 60





	1. "Please tell me you're not making banana bread."

**Author's Note:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS: -

The keys clunked against the frame as Ben opened the door to the flat. He had gone out to do the weekly shopping, actually happy for once for the opportunity to get out of the house. Normally he had always hated grocery shopping but at this time he was almost looking forward to the task.

As he had done with every shopping trip he ended it by a short detour to the Beale's house, dropping off a little something he had gotten for Lexi at the door.

Of course, they were video chatting a lot but the smile on Lexi's face when she showed him what she found always made his heart swell a little.

Last week she had held up the picture she had drawn with some new pencils - there were tiny unicorns all over them and Ben couldn't resist buying them for her. Another time she was munching on one last of her favourite cookies before bed when Ben read her her nighttime story over skype.

A wall of warm air hit him as he waked up the stairs. When he breathed in he could smell the typically sweet scent of his boyfriend's baking.

"Please tell me you're not making banana bread.", Ben said as he walked in, throwing his mask to its designated spot on the shelf. "This current obsession everyone seems to have over baking it - it's definitely overrated."

Callum spun around as he heard his voice, a grin on his face.

"I have you know that I love banana bread but no, that's not what I'm making. Actually -", he pointed to the laptop standing on the counter, revealing the picture of a very concentrated Lexi, stirring something in a bowl. "Lexi asked me if I could teach her how to make that cake I made for her last time."

A soft smile involuntarily made its way on Ben's face. Somehow, seeing his boyfriend and his daughter get along as well as they did still made him feel all warm and happy. A feeling so much like coming home after a long day.

He walked over to Callum, wrapping one arm around his waist as he stepped beside him.

Lexi was still so focused on her task that she hadn't even noticed him. Lola was there as well now, trying to clean up any mess her daughter left behind. She was under strict orders not to help because Lexi wanted to learn this from Callum and she could measure up the flour on her own, thank you very much.

Ben's focus on his daughter was interrupted as Callum leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek.

"You got everything from the list?"

Remembering the groceries he had bought and dumped in front of the counter on his way into the kitchen Ben nodded.

"Surprisingly, yeah!"

He turned around to start putting things into the fridge - not before Callum could pull him in for a quick stolen kiss though.

When he finally unpacked the groceries, Lexi was apparently just finishing her task.

"Daddy!", she yelled and Callum nudged his arm, pointing to the screen.

"Hey princess!", he smiled at her brightly. "Cal told me you're learning to bake so you can make me all the cakes when we can see each other again."

There was an expression of indignation on her face.

"Uh no - I'm learning to bake so I can make all the cakes and then eat all the cakes.", she clarified.

Ben let out a laugh, seeing from the corner of his eyes that Callum was chuckling as well.

This really was typically Lexi. What was too was that a second later her expression had changed completely, the topic obviously abandoned since she had cleared up any confusion.

"Where have you been daddy? You shouldn't go out.", she asked instead inquisitively.

"I know, baby. I've just nipped to the shops."

At that, Lexi's eyes lit up and in a second she was gone from the screen. Only the sound of her footsteps could be heard as she ran to the door, eager to see what Ben had left her this time.

"You spoil her.", Callum spoke up with a laugh. " You know she'll expect presents even when everything goes back to normal right?"

Ben shrugged.

"I don't care. As long as I can see her smile."


	2. "I´m bored."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a very short one, don't really know what this is tbh. Hope you like it anyway!
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS: -

"Will you stop that?", Callum finally snapped.

For the past few minutes, Ben had been playing with the sleeve of his grey hoodie, pulling lightly on it and picking at the seams. Now his focus had shifted, letting go of the fabric and instead poking at his side again and again.

"Ben!"

When he still didn't react Callum caught his hand midway in the air, stopping his movements abruptly and preventing another jab to his ribs which always made him squirm away involuntarily.

Ben looked up at him at the interruption.

"Can you stop that now?", Callum repeated once his attention was on him. He let go of Ben´s wrist, linking their fingers instead.

With a huff and a frustrated sigh, Ben relented. Not without a pout appearing on his face, however.

"But I'm bored.", he whined looking very much like a petulant child getting denied his favourite sweets.

They had only sat down in the living room about ten minutes ago, falling onto the sofa after finishing their dinner. (Maybe Ben had eaten a little too much but who could blame him when his boyfriend´s cooking was that good.)

It was however too many evenings spend just like this in a row. No changes to the ever same daily routine. The same for walls, the same shows playing on television. Ben thought he could easily recite the whole programme by now.

Callum sighed.

"Alright then, what do you want to do?", he gave in at last.

"I don't know.", Ben whined again. He let his head fall to Callum's chest, groaning as he pressed his nose against him.

Callum could help but let out a little laugh at his dramatic behaviour. He looked down at his boyfriend fondly, pushing a strand of hair back.

He considered for a moment what to do, then softly kissed his temple. Moving down he pressed another kiss to his cheek, a few along his jaw.

Breathing out a small sigh, Ben let himself enjoy the attention for a second longer before pulling back again.

There was a glint in his eyes when he looked at Callum.

"I´ll give you that - you do have the best ideas sometimes."

A mischievous grin spread on his face and in a split second he had sat up. Another second and he was leaning back in, kissing him once again, while simultaneously moving over to straddle him.

Maybe the evening wouldn't be as boring as he had expected it to be.


	3. "Getting to stay in bed is possibly the only good thing to come out of this and you'd rather get up in the middle of the night to go for a run?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For @yasiswolrd <3 Thank you so much for the request lovely x
> 
> This is very much unedited again so please excuse any mistakes!🙈
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS: -

Ben blinked one eye open, his hand searching for his phone on the nightstand almost wiping everything else laying on there down in the process. When he finally found it, he switched it on, groaning at the too-bright light hurting his eyes and even more so at the time the display showed.

Half past 5 am.

_Half past fucking 5 am._

Who would willingly get up at such an ungodly hour? On a Saturday furthermore. No obligations and somehow there were people thinking it was a good idea. Ben couldn't describe that as anything other than insanity. Unfortunately for him, Callum was that kind of insane.

"Getting to stay in bed is possibly the only good thing to come out of this and you'd rather get up in the middle of the night to go for a run?", he moaned. Rolling around lazily on the bed to the now-empty other side, Ben tried to force his eyes open.

When he finally managed to he saw Callum grinning back at him.

Ben watched as he pulled his grey hoodie over his head, pouting in disappointment at losing the view on his bare chest.

Callum's smile widened even more when he saw it.

"It's much nicer to go for a run in the fresh morning air when no one's up yet instead of going out in the summer heat and running parkour around the people on the street to keep the safety distance.", he argued, slipping into his shoes and sitting on the corner of the mattress as he tied the laces.

"Actually...", Ben groaned again as he pulled the blanket up and more tightly around himself. "I have the perfect solution. You know, if you just stay in bed with your fit boyfriend you wouldn't have to do either. Might even lose some calories too if you're lucky.", Ben smirked, winking at him.

Callum shook his head. Really, he should have expected that kind of reaction. It was so typically Ben. 

He stood up, quickly grabbing his phone and his headphones, then leaning down towards his boyfriend.

"Just go back to sleep again and I'll be here when you wake up. You won't even know I was gone.", he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Ben looked neither convinced nor all too happy at Callum's words.

"I can assure you, I will notice.", he scowled.

Unwilling to let him go, Ben wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him down once again and bringing their lips back together again.

Callum had to brace himself with a hand on the pillow to stop himself from falling back into bed, laughing against Ben's lips.

He however didn't let Ben convince him, pulling back with one last kiss. He even applauded himself mentally for not even giving in when Ben whined disappointingly as he chased his lips.

"Forty minutes max.", Callum let his fingers run through his hair one last time. "Sleep."

Ben grumbled but finally gave in and nodded in acceptance.

"Fine.", he sighed exasperatedly. "But don't you dare sneak into the shower without me when you get back."

Callum could hold back a laugh.

"I wouldn't dare." Winking he opened the door, halfway outside before he added. "I love you."

"Love you too, babe.", Ben mumbled, already close to falling asleep again as the warmth and familiar scent of Callum's side of the bed lulled him back to sleep.


	4. "I'm worried about her."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another short one 🙈 I wanna start this off by saying that with me not being from the UK I am not sure about all the rules/regulations/procedures there, so please be aware that this might be inaccurate! In any case, stay safe <3
> 
> CHAPTER WARNINGS: Mention of Covid19 Infection

A loud noise rang through the flat. Startled by it, Callum walked out of their room to investigate.

He saw what was going on immediately.

Ben was sat at the kitchen table, head falling onto his hand, then roughly wiping his palm over his forehead and down his face in frustration. His other hand was still tightly clutching his phone which he had slammed down in front of him as soon as the video chat had ended and the screen went black again.

Trying not to startle him, Callum walked around the table, approaching slowly. He brought a hand to Ben´s arm, moving it up into his hair when Ben jumped in surprise.

"Sorry." Callum let his fingers run through the short hair at the back of his neck, trying to ease the tenseness there. It didn´t seem to do much though. "You alright? What did Lo say? Is Lex okay?", he asked when Ben looked up at him.

Ben nodded weakly in response.

"Yeah, I mean, apparently she's fine." He let out a shaky sigh. "I just - it's just I'm so worried about her."

There had been an infection at Lexi's school and ever since they had heard of it Ben had walked around the flat like a caged animal, crazy with worry. He had already called Lola at least three times that day but no matter how many times she reassured him that she would immediately let him know if she had any more news, he couldn´t stop his mind from thinking all sorts.

"I just want to be with her. I wanna see her. I wanna see she's okay.", Ben was getting frantic again, so much so that his nails dug into the table as he tried to keep himself from jumping up, running out of the door and not halting until he held his little girl in his arms again.

Callum quickly pulled him in. He held on tightly as Ben buried his face against his stomach, curled around him because he knew it always gave his boyfriend some sense of protection.

For a minute, he softly ran his fingers through Ben's hair which had gotten significantly longer during lockdown. With a kiss to his forehead, he pulled away at last. 

Stroking his thumb down his cheek and along his jaw, Callum looked at him intently.

He hoped he could reassure Ben somehow, without letting his own worry shine through too much and risking upsetting Ben even more.

"She'll be fine." A tear that rolled down Ben's face and got caught on Callum´s thumb and he wiped it away before repeating himself again in an attempt to convince Ben. "She'll be fine."

He wasn't entirely sure if his words were only for Ben, or maybe just as much for himself too.


	5. "I don't know if playing monopoly is such a good idea right now seeing as it will most certainly end in a blood bath and we have no escape."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS: -

It was only two weeks into the lockdown and somehow they had all already ran out of things to do to keep themselves busy.

If he wasn´t gonna die of boredom Ben thought maybe the awkwardness of sitting in a room with Callum, Stuart and Rainie staring at some tv show he really couldn´t be bothered about might do the job instead. Ben didn´t even know what was going on and really, none of them seemed to care at all either.

Sighing, Ben curled a little more into Callum's side shifting his head into a more comfortable position on his shoulder.

At the movement, he caught Stuart´s eyes as he looked back at them, the boredom clear in his expression as well.

Ben could feel Callum's fingertips run through his hair with his nails gently grazing his skull. He noticed he must have said something from the way his chest vibrated although from the position they were in he didn't catch any of his words.

It seemed to have been addressed at Stuart though, because he nodded, switching the tv off and rolling his head back against for a moment.

When he looked up at them again, Ben caught enough words to understand his question.

"Any ideas what we could do then?"

Ben sighed, annoyed at the whole situation. Callum didn't seem to have an answer either.

"Don't we still have some games lying around somewhere? I think I saw a monopoly a few weeks ago?", Rainie joined in.

"Oh no.", Stuart only groaned. This couldn't possibly end well.

At least Callum seemed to share that thought.

“I don´t know if playing monopoly is such a good idea right now seeing as it will most certainly end in a blood bath and we have no escape.”, he said, genuine worry on his face at the suggestion.

"Oh, come on! It'll be fun!", Rainie said, her voice getting a little more enthusiastic again.

Ben grinned mischievously. He would never pass up an opportunity to wind up Stuart and this seemed like the perfect solution to save the evening.

"I mean, it must be better than watching another run of this awful show, right? Because I don't think I can bear that."

He did have a point, they all had to agree on that one. And so the decision was made.

\---

Maybe they should have listened to Callum.

The properties hadn't even sold out yet before the typical frustrations the game inevitably brought with it started to fester.

"Urgh, again, whyyy??", Callum groaned as he placed his figure onto the prison field for the fourth time in a row.

Ben had only just recovered from laughing at the last time and immediately broke into a fit of giggles again.

Rainie followed suit when she saw what had happened.

"This is perfect.", she brought out between huffs of laughter.

It took several minutes for them to calm down but once he was able to keep going with the game, Ben picked up a card according to the field he landed on. He didn't get to read all of what it said before his voice once again was lost between laughs.

Callum grabbed it from his hand, meaning to read it out himself but breaking off just the same as he realized what he was looking at.

A getting out of prison card.

Of course. What else could it have been? He felt like the game was mocking him personally.

Huffing, he threw the card back on the board.

"Okay but this really is not fair. You're cheating just to wind me up, ain't ya?"

Ben grinned almost proudly.

"No. It's all above board."

Callum rolled his eyes.

"Hold up-", Stuart joined in, finally realizing what the card said. "Callum is stuck in prison yet again and you? Getting the out of prison card? That can't be right!"

"What can I say, I'm charming!", Ben said winking at Callum.

Stuart pulled a face but didn't dare to say anything more for fear of what else Ben might come back with. He seemed to love winding him up and Stuart had gotten more information than he had ever wanted to know about his little brother's relationship already. So he thought it best not to give Ben any more encouragement and risk more comments.

Of course, Ben didn't need encouragement to be a wind-up though.

As the game went on he continued to make little digs Stuart for the cards he drew or the fields he landed on or flirted shamelessly with Callum just to irritate his brother.

Half an hour later the first houses were built, which unsurprisingly didn't make for a more peaceful game.

"Uh what? That was much more expensive when I was there in the last round! And you've even added a house since then.", Stuart called out when Callum landed on Ben's property and he stated the price.

"Well, some people know how to get a discount.", Ben smirked.

Callum blushed furiously and shot his boyfriend a warning look, fully aware that it wouldn't do anything to stop him.

Stuart stared at Ben incredulously. "That - that is _so_ against the rules!"

"Who cares about rules? Live a little Stu.", Ben said mockingly, grinning at the way Stuart stared at him, stuttering for a come-back.

Rainie chuckled, nudging him with an elbow. Somehow despite her first reservations she and Ben had found a common ground in their sense of humor and their love for winding Stuart up.

"Alright. That's it - I'm out.", Stuart finally relented unable to come up with a retort. "There's no chance to win if you aren't playing fair anyway."

With that he stood up, his hands raised in defense as he backed away and disappeared into his room.

The three of them were left sitting at the table - Ben's and Rainie's eyes meeting and while Rainie tried to suppress the chuckle Ben made no such efforts. Callum just stared at them, shaking his head.

When Rainie finally managed to put on a more serious look and got up to go after Stuart, Callum turned to Ben.

"Do you have to wind him up all the time?"

"Uhh yes. I mean have you seen the look on his face? How could I not?"

"Ben-"

"Come on you can't deny it is funny."

Callum sighed, relenting. It might be a bit entertaining, not that he would ever admit that. It would only fuel Ben's teasing. And if he thought about it, he should probably just be glad for how it was now, considering how the relationship between his brother and his boyfriend had started out.

So he let it go, instead turning back to the game, trying to decide what to do now. He doubted Stuart would come back to continue anytime soon. Or at all, really.

"I reckon we've won.", Ben said after a moment, making Callum chuckle and shake his head at Ben once more. He was unbelievable sometimes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I always love to hear what you thought :)
> 
> tumblr @stillamess22


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